Ipods and races - logisitical question

[Wines Not Whines]

I know I'm overthinking this, but bear with me. I want to bring my ipod with me to my half marathon this weekend, so I can turn it on and listen to music for a boost in the last few miles. (I know some people are very anti-music during races, but I am not one of those people.) I don't want to listen to music at the beginning though. I can carry everything with me in my SPI belt, but then at some point during the race, I'd have to unravel the headphones (they always seem to get tangled), shove them down the front of my shirt, put the buds in my ears, clip my shuffle onto me, etc. Not a huge deal, but it's hard to wrangle all of that while running, and stopping to do it would take a couple of minutes. Or I could start the race with everything in place, but plan to not turn music on until I really need a boost. What do you do?

If you never listen to music during races, then this question is not for you. 

[grk2012]

If I bring music, I have it all hooked up and ready to go. I keep the headphones looped under my bra straps and, if I feel the need for it, use only one earbud so I'm still mostly aware of surroundings.

[finallykrisb]

I've done that before. I just put everything in place and shove the earbuds down the front of my bra until I need them.

[jreeds]

I hook everything up in the beginning. Clip on my shuffle and tuck the ear buds into my bra strap. Then once the crowd thins out I put them on.

[ebeth]

pretty much what everyone else said.

[Wines Not Whines]

Cool, thanks. I didn't even think about stuffing them in my bra to start, but that's a great idea.

[lb2006]

same as what everyone else said

[cinco]

Ditto! I would not leave it in your spi belt, b/c it always ends up getting tangled.

[alexithymia]

I would start with everything already in place. I'm kind of a klutz, and I know if I was trying to do all that unraveling and stuff while running, I would probably face plant. Lol.